Confession allows us to break through to the cross and to the freedom available for us there.Bonhoeffer: Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation. It hurts, it cuts a man down, it is a dreadful blow to pride . . . in the confession of concrete sins the old man dies a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother. Because this humiliation is so hard we continually scheme to evade confessing to a brother. [1]
As the saying goes: The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. What we don't realize now, is the incredible peace awaiting us on the other side of confession. It is that dying to self that opens our souls to the light and joy and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
While pride would convince us of our right to secrecy and our need for self-protection, confession destroys pride. We cannot find the Cross of Jesus if we shrink from going to the place where it is to be found, namely, the public death of the sinner. [2]
So, what are your thoughts on the subject?
How have you found freedom through confession?
[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1954), 114.
[2] Ibid.
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